His Nanny Mate (Moana and Edrick Morgan) novel Chapter 36

Nanny and the Alpha Daddy
#Chapter 36: Afterparty
Moana

I felt a hand on my arm in the crowd and turned around, expecting to see Ethan or one of his friends standing there.

But it wasn’t any of them.

It was Edrick.

Without speaking, he kept his grip firmly on my arm and pulled me away from the crowd, into a private room.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, although I was certain that he had already seen me with Ethan and his friends. “I thought you were sick and had to go to urgent care.”

I felt my heart rate quicken. “I…”

Before I could answer, he raised his hand to indicate for me to stop speaking and then rubbed the bridge of his nose exasperatedly. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that you’re making a mistake by hanging around Ethan. And now you lie about your health so you can sneak out and galavant all over town with him?”

“I wouldn’t feel it necessary to lie and sneak if it wasn’t for the fact that you seem to have boundless enmity for your own brother.”

Edrick’s face darkened. “He is not my brother,” he snarled. “Besides… Do you have some fantasy of being with him? Because I’ll be the first to tell you that he would never be interested in someone like you.”

“Someone like me?” I asked with a scoff. I folded my arms across my chest and took a step back, but Edrick closed the distance again by taking a step toward me. He towered over me, even when I wore high heels. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean, look at you,” Edrick said, gesturing toward my appearance. “You’re just an ordinary human nanny. And you’re pretty enough, sure, but you don’t do yourself any favors by dressing so plainly and homely. Don’t I pay you enough to create a nice image for yourself?”

I felt my face get hot at Edrick’s words. I glanced down at my plain black dress, thinking about how Ethan had told me that I looked perfectly fine.

“Ethan might seem like a nice person on the outside,” Edrick continued, “but you can rest assured that he’s not interested in someone with a social status as low as that of a human nanny who couldn’t find a job until someone felt pity on her.”

It was then that I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes, but I wasn’t about to let Edrick make me cry on a night that was supposed to be fun and lighthearted. I turned on my heel and took a few steps toward the door.

Ethan frowned, a look of worry wrought across his handsome face. “Are you sure?” he asked. “Do you want me to take you home?”

I paused, wondering if it would be a horrible idea to show up outside the penthouse with Ethan, but at the same time, I needed the friendly support, so I nodded in agreement. “Yes, please,” I said. “If you don’t mind.”

Ethan nodded in response, still looking worried, and turned to say something to his friends before guiding me out of the bar with his hand on my back.

…

Ethan dropped me off outside the penthouse and, after a word of encouragement and a gentle squeeze of my arm, he drove away. I swallowed the lump in my throat and made my way back upstairs, steeling myself in case Edrick was home and waiting to argue with me even more — but he wasn’t. In fact, only Ella was sitting in the dark living room by herself.

“Moana!” she said, jumping up from the couch and running over to me. “Are you okay? Selina said you’re sick.”

I bit my lip, suddenly feeling horrible for lying and worrying the little girl just so I could go out.

“Yes,” I replied, scooping her up to take her back to bed. “I’m okay now.”

After I put her to bed, I decided it was best to at least attempt to fulfill my contractual obligation with Edrick by waiting in his room in case he should come home soon, but as the hours ticked on, he never showed up. Feeling somewhat relieved, I returned to my own room and crawled into bed.

However, I was only in my room for hardly even half an hour before I heard a knock on my door.

And when I opened it, all I could smell was alcohol.